Scaling McDonald's South Africa to 400 Stores and Leading through Crises with Greg Solomon

Video Description

Olivier Barbeau sits down with Greg Solomon, former CEO of @McDonaldsSouthAfrica-Official , for a powerful conversation about leadership, scale, and guiding a major brand through some of its toughest years. Greg spent 29 years with McDonald’s South Africa, helping grow the business from about 75 restaurants to more than 400 and serving millions of customers each month. His journey took him from engineering and construction into operations, executive leadership, and a 14-year tenure as CEO. A major part of this discussion focuses on how Greg led the organisation through Covid-19 and the severe load shedding years. He shares the decisions that kept the business alive, from daily crisis communication to supporting 15 000 employees at home, and the massive investment required to keep restaurants running when the power grid collapsed. He also reflects on the riots, the role of community relationships, and the coming shift driven by artificial intelligence. Greg opens up about decision making, influential leadership built on trust and respect, and his new chapter coaching CEOs in South Africa and the United States. It is a grounded and practical look at what real leadership requires in uncertain times. 00:00 Welcome and Greg’s introduction 02:45 From civil engineer to McDonalds project manager 06:03 Scaling McDonalds South Africa from about 75 to more than 400 restaurants 10:18 Leading through Covid and daily crisis communication 12:14 Load shedding, generators, and keeping restaurants open 15:15 AI, fast followers, and the next wave of disruption 25:31 Moving into CEO coaching and why top performers need coaches 32:38 Talent, younger professionals, and modern leadership expectations 36:31 The four stages of business growth and founder limits 47:30 Advice for young people and executives on building a meaningful career #entrepreneurship #mcdonalds #leadership #business